Book review - “Invisible Women”, Caroline Criado-Pérez

“There is a better way. And it's a pretty simple one: we must increase female representation in all spheres of life.”  

Caroline Criado-Pérez, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men 

“Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado-Pérez transformed the way I thought about everything around me, to the point where I was quite frustrated actually. I read it long after the face-to-face code club sessions had finished but it reinforced why the message I have is so, so important.

There were some themes in the book which made me angry at the world and how much of a rough deal 50% of the world's population have. 

Women……And that's not even touching on ethnicity. 

Women have had their lives shaped by men.  

As a mother of 2 daughters this has stuck with me:   

“We teach brilliance bias to children from an early age. A recent US study found that when girls start primary school at the age of five, they are as likely as five-year-old boys to think women could be 'really really smart'. But by the time they turn six, something changes. They start doubting  their gender. So much so, in fact, that they start limiting themselves: if a game is presented to them as intended for 'children who are really, really smart', five-year-old girls are as likely to want to play it as boys - but six-year-old girls are suddenly uninterested. Schools are teaching little girls that brilliance doesn't belong to them. No wonder that by the time they're filling out university evaluation forms, students are primed to see their female teachers as less qualified.” ― Caroline Criado Perez, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men 

I want to empower our daughters to do whatever they want in careers and their lives and not be guided by outdated social constraints. That is in no way limiting (y)our sons, we need to demonstrate inclusivity so our sons grow up knowing a female's worth. 

Technology is not solely in the realms of the male – there have been great strides in representing diversity – lets continue. 

 The world is their oyster, help them to go get it. 

“Improving the ratio of women to men in STEM* innovation by 10% has the potential to increase company revenues in that sector by £3 billion per year”
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​WISE 2019

*STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics